Taga bets recover in badminton tourney

Taga Badminton Club players bounced back from a slow start in the 2012 Tan Holdings Doubles Badminton Competition, winning four games at the beginning of Week 2.

Delivering victories for Taga last Friday were the tandems of Merlie Tolentino and Loyda Ito, Andreau Galvez and Rodwealth Espana, Luis Camacho and Panapa Peteru, and Rose Lazaro and Irish Pagarao.

Tolentino and Ito are playing in the women’s B doubles and swept Saipan Badminton Club’s Alma Ortega and Brianna Kim, 21-17, 21-11. In the women’s C division, Lazaro and Pagarao lost the opening game via forfeiture, 0-21, but stole the win against AON’s Bebilyn Harris and Maggie Chavez after prevailing in the last two games, 21-9, 21-12.

In the tough men’s A doubles, the young guns Galvez and Espana downed the veteran duo of Dick Guinto and Mario Diola, 21-6, 21-15. Also claiming a straight game win for Taga were Camacho and Peteru, who defeated AON’s Celso Agui and Ramil Estrellano in the men’s C doubles, 21-18, 23-21.

All divisions in this year’s Tan Holdings tournament will have a round-robin format in the elimination and only the Top 4 teams will advance to the cross-over semifinals.

Meanwhile, Golden Racquet and Saipan Badminton Club also notched four wins in last Friday’s games.

In the men’s B division, SBC’s J.O. Son and Y.S. Kim swept Golden Racquet’s Eydie Uy and Jordan Pangelinan, 21-12, 21-12, whole Joel Ortega and S.P. Park needed three games to thwart Panapa and Camacho in the men’s C game, 12-21, 21-17, 21-18. SBC’s two other wins last Friday came off sweeps with Gary Bandoja and Oh Im Bog topping Shirley’s Robert Reyes and Chris Hilario in the men’s B doubles, 21-17, 21-11, and So Young Lee and In Seok Heo beating Juneh Padua and Emily Vargas, 21-0 (forfeit), 21-7.

For Golden Racquets, the club grabbed two wins each via sweep and extended matches. Narlou Achas and Lito Mendoza had two of those four triumphs, as they first topped Ferdie Santos and Ramir Belialba in two games in the men’s C, 21-11, 21-16, and then outclassed SBC’s Son Jae Ik and Kim Yong Jaem 21-18, 13-21, 21-17. Achas also played in the men’s B with Edwin Maratas and they won over Roger Vales and Jojo Savellano, 21-14, 8-21, 21-19. In the women’s B, Cheng Saturno and Anna Alvarez defeated Elna Curate and Shirley Kim, 21-8, 21-17.

The Berks Blazers and AON also posted separate wins last Friday with the former nailing two victories and the latter having only one.

The Blazers’ Lucelle Lampera and Lani Bartolome swept Tolentino and Cristy Villaflor in the women’s A, 21-15, 21-16, while Ferdie Arago and Gerry Balarao won over Noli Santos and Edwin Montoya, 21-17, 21-15. Santos and Belialba gave AON its lone win last weekend as they outclassed Mike Cruz and Melvin Capalad, 21-13, 21-9.

Results of Saturday and Sunday games will be released before the week ends.